Comic-Con kicks off Wednesday with preview night. Now or Never Comics is the only comic book store within easy walking distance of the Convention Center. It has essentially been preparing all year for the epic surge of pop culture fans hungry for comics, both new and old, who are arriving this week.
Now or Never is a brightly lit, well-organized slice of geek heaven. There are new and used comics downstairs and vintage toys upstairs. The stairway boasts the signatures of all the artists who have passed through, and at least one employee has his own comic on the shelf at the store — Zach Norris' "CREAM." So it's an inviting space for anyone who loves pop culture.
When I visited Now or Never Comics two weeks ago, things were deceptively calm. Owner Aaron Trites had a dynamic duo of employees on hand for a quick staff meeting to make sure everything was on track.
"We've got everything broken down into buckets like our cleaning stuff, our staffing stuff, our banking stuff," Trites explained to me. "So this is basically our huge to-do list for Comic-Con. We've got due dates lined up for everything. We've got ownership tagged on here. I ordered a ton of bags yesterday. Stuff's already shown up today, so I'll mark bags done."
One item checked off a list of hundreds. But Trites was happy to note any forward progress. He hails from Boston, and when he decided to open a comic book store in San Diego seven years ago, he factored Comic-Con into his plans.
"Comic-Con's a huge part of the reason that Now or Never opened up downtown. We're at 1055 F Street, the corner of 7th and F. We are less than a mile from the front door to Hall H."
And the location has paid off.
"Comic-Con is our Super Bowl," Trites said. "Last year during Comic-Con was our busiest week of the year since we've been open."
Business has been so good that he nearly doubled the size of the store last December, expanding into the unit next door. The expansion, coupled with some smart design that employs bins on wheels, allows him to open up one half the store for in-person events with a better flow of people.
And he is going to need every inch of space this year as he plans an ambitious week of events and signings.
Last year proved wildly successful, in part, because of his carefully selected location. The shop benefits from the fact that San Diego Comic-Con creates a campus feel that encourages people to venture out while still feeling a part of the convention.
"To be able to walk into the Gaslamp and see all these businesses taken over, and everything downtown looks and feels like Comic-Con, it's not just the Convention Center," Trites noted. "I've been going to conventions for 30 years and there's nothing else like that, the whole city is Comic-Con."
And that means Now or Never becomes part of that Comic-Con campus, attracting attendees but also offering a geeky space that’s free to the public.
"It's nice to be able to provide kind of an alternative for folks that aren't able to get into the con," Trites added. "It gives people a taste without having to get into the Convention Center."
Trites also works hard and smart to lure people to the shop with well-themed events and ever-popular exclusives.
"We've got the Exquisite Corpses Rascal Randy #1. This version is only available from Now or Never. We have 500 copies that we'll be selling during Comic-Con," Trites said.
Teasers for the exclusive could be spotted throughout downtown as flyers mysteriously began popping up last month.
"This is our first time doing true Now or Never store exclusives," Trites added. "We are also doing a store-exclusive variant of 'Godzilla vs. San Diego Comic-Con.' The cover art is by our friend Juston McKee."
Exclusives are definitely a draw, even old ones.
"I've got boxes behind me of Comic-Con exclusives from years past," Trites said. "We'll get so many folks who will stay the week after Comic-Con who are visiting from Australia or from Italy, and they're looking for something that they can only get in San Diego. So having those con exclusives is a huge plus."
But Trites doesn’t stop there; he brings talent in for signings.
"We know for sure that on Wednesday we've got Patrick Horvath signing, the creator from 'Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees,'" Trites said. "We also have Matt Rosenberg coming in for a signing on Thursday. We have Corpse Tour confirmed on Saturday (already sold out). Those are the three events that we've got 100% locked down. We are still getting folks reaching out like almost every day."
Like publishers who don’t have a booth at Comic-Con but still want to hold an event or international artists.
"We got an art rep from the Philippines that says they've got four creators that they're repping," Trites shared at the all-staff meeting last week. "Two of them are currently working on Spawn."
Trites loves that people are reaching out to him and he wants to accommodate as many requests as possible, but he has limited space and a small team of employees and volunteers.
In addition to running these events, Now or Never still needs to attend to the daily needs of being a comic book shop. So a vendor might suddenly need a thousand boards and bags, or a collector might come in trying to sell something like a 9.8-graded giant-size "X-Men" #1.
But that’s the nature of the beast.
"It's coming in hotter than I'd like it to, but that's Comic-Con," Trites noted just last week. "We will start to see an uptick in traffic on Monday, nothing cuckoo bananas. And then Wednesday is when the rubber really meets the road. Thursday, because it's the first official day of the show, is probably going to be our lowest traffic day in the shop. That still doesn't mean that it's a slow day in the shop. It's still going to be like three times an average Thursday for us."
Trites has a dedicated and skilled crew, but Comic-Con can be daunting and challenging even for the most experienced veterans.
So at last week's meeting, he told everyone, "If anybody has any questions, do not hesitate to give me a shout. Like if you think of something, you know, midnight the day before Comic-Con, like do not hesitate, like call, email, text, mention it in the shop."
Because Comic-Con is like a force of nature and will hit town on Wednesday whether you’re ready or not.
